Hi everyone I just found this forum and figured I might as well ask a question since I've been a little stressed about my skin lately.

So I've had acne for about 4 years. It started out just a bit but grew to be a lot more. Since it started getting it when I was young, I didn't really care about my skin and I picked at it a lot, until it would eventually fade into this sort of discolored-looking purple and pinkish color.

Last year I went to a dermatologist who prescribed me with a medication that's helped some but the problem is that when I first start using it it pushes all the acne onto the surface on my skin which causes me to look like I have more acne for a while. I've gotten really irritated with it because I want to pick at the acne because it has whiteheads on it, but I know I shouldn't. So far I've picked a little and decided that I wanted to look for more help on what my acne situation is.

My forehead is the worst part, but I have some acne on my chekbones, my chin and some that is by my hairline and by my ears. I can't tell if what is going on is acne scarring or hyperpigmentation, since I just learned that they are two different things. When I touch my skin, the majority of it is bumpy but some of the places with the faded spots is smooth. I don't really know if I have any "pits" but it's nothing like the pictures of acne scars I've seen on google. When I go to my dermatologist again, I'm going to ask about ways to heal this skin problem but I wanted to know if what is going on is either scarring or discoloring and if it will go away.